As an undergraduate student, I rarely sought out my academic adviser. For a number of reasons, I really only interacted with an academic adviser when I was required or needed his or her signature. While enrolled in a recent seminar on academic advising, I began to reflect on these experiences. It is my belief that there is a particular group of unreachable students—those who do not seek out their advisers, rarely make appointments, and seldom …
Posts Tagged ‘student’
Moving into Student Spaces: Utilizing Conversations Outside the Office to Enhance Advising Sessions
As advisers, we strive to help our students excel in their studies, develop as the individuals they are, and move toward graduation to pursue their ventures. Our goal is to foster and facilitate student development. In order to be effective, we need to establish trust with our students so we can provide them with the appropriate guidance along the way. But what if advising in the office is putting a barrier between the adviser and …
Encouraging Student Success: Four-Year Plan Initiatives
Once admitted to college, students and their parents have to make a lot of choices and plans. These include what major to choose, what items to purchase for dorm living, and how to pay for the next four years of college. Considering the economy, earning a degree in four years is more important than ever. However, the reality at four-year institutions is that 38 percent of undergraduates will graduate in four years and only 61 …
Making the Connection: How Advisers Can Help Students Reflect on the Internship Experience
For many students, internships are an important part of the college experience. The internship has virtually become a rite of passage for students nearing the end of their undergraduate careers, as evidenced by required internship programs at numerous universities. Academic advisers often have the opportunity to work with students before, during, and after their internship experiences. It is common practice for advisers to help students plan coursework so that students can participate in internships as …
A Director of Direction: How Academic Advisers Can Effectively Propose Student Participation in the National Student Exchange Program
Gina is beginning her second year of college at a state university just twenty minutes down the road from her small hometown in Vermont. She chose the nearby school because of the in-state tuition and the fact that she received an impressive academic scholarship. However, Gina has always wanted to pursue her interest in travel and though she dreamed of spending a semester in Rome, Italy, she knows that foreign travel is an expensive endeavor, …
Learning and Changing: My College Experience (Part 10)
Editor’s Note: While numerous academic advisers and administrators have written about the advising endeavor, the voice of the student is often missing in the academic literature.
In September 2009, The Mentor began publishing a series of articles by Taryn Noll, a Penn State undergraduate student who volunteered to share her thoughts, observations, challenges, and strategies while navigating the University, making decisions, and experiencing educational opportunities. Below is Taryn’s tenth journal entry, which marks the beginning …
Building on Student Strengths in Graduate Professional Education
Education has long been shown to be a leveler among class differences (Gilbert, 2008). In a time of increasing economic divide, how can graduate programs in universities effectively reach more of those who need mentoring the most, as do those in a metropolitan university? The metropolitan university is a specific type of university that has recently been getting more recognition for its unique mission to students as well as the larger community. This university type …
Vertical Peer Mentoring and Advising: A Structure for Student Involvement in Multi-Level Advising
Abstract:
This case study describes a recently instituted learning community at North Carolina A&T State University supported by a National Science Foundation grant that has developed varied methods of mentoring and advising. This new multi-level structure and associated procedures improved mentoring and advising satisfaction among students and faculty and improved student achievement. In addition to faculty learning-community leader assistance in mentoring and advising, the students are also actively involved in the process. Their participation helps …
What protocols should academic advising units establish to identify and help troubled students?
Academic advisers sometimes suspect or know certain students are dealing with personal issues that not only impact their academic performance but may threaten their own or others’ well being. At times a student clearly reaches out for help, but in some cases, an adviser only senses something is “off.” Does your advising unit and/or institution have a best practice in place to identify troubled students and safely, effectively connect them to the resources they need? …
Learning and Changing: My College Experience (Part 9)
Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a series of journal entries written by Taryn Noll as she reflects on her undergraduate educational experiences. Part 8 of Taryn’s journal was published on January 27, 2011.
It is the end of the 2010–2011 school year. Finals are this week, and my sophomore year is coming to a close. These past two semesters, I have been able to enroll in some of the most interesting classes yet. In …
